I have a '98 that I bought sitting in a field. Ever since I bought it, it's seldomly started on the first try. I think it might be a fuel pump problem but don't want to start pulling things apart until I find out if someone has had a similar issue, or someone with more knowledge has some imput.

When you have a fuel pressure gauge connected to the port on the fuel rail :

1) what is the fuel pressure when the vehicle is running?
2) when you shut off the vehicle how fast does the fuel pressure drop?

Without this information to begin with not much you can do.